Newcomers Asuquo, Sanni dazzle in trainingALL the 26 players invited to camp for the August 15 friendly against Niger Republic in Niamey had a full training session together yesterday morning with coach Stephen Keshi fully in charge of proceedings.Late Monday evening, the four players of Sunshine Stars of Akure, who were expected, finally joined the camp and Keshi heaped praises on them for their performance against their Algerian counterparts in the CAF Champions League cracker.The four players are skipper Godfrey Oboabona, goalkeeper Moses Ocheje, one of the scorersin the 2-0 win, Izu Azuka, and newcomer Kwambe Solomon. Keshi declared: 'What I always insist on is for national team players to distinguish themselves in their clubsides so that they can be called worthy national team call-ups.'You demonstrated that on Sunday. Congratulations to the entire team, Super Eagles players who played the game, and specially for goalscorer Azuka, who showed the type of fighting spirit I've always expected from him.'He went on to dissect the areas where some of the players did not do well in the game but added that overall, the Nigerian side was the better of the two. Meanwhile, the battle for 23 slots for the trip to Niger Republic has been intense, as all the players avoid the mistakes that could dim their chances of making the team.By the way the players are performing in training, it will be difficult for the coaches to select the team that will do battle in Niamey. Despite the fact that all newly invited players to the national team have proved to be worthy ambassadors of the Nigerian League and their various club sides, two of them have so far stood out among the selection made by the coaches. They are Shooting Stars' midfielder Philip Asuquo and Gombe United's Sanusi Sanni. At the team's first training on Monday, it was obvious that they were special players going by the confidence they displayed against the home-based 'big boys' like Azubuike Egwueke, Sunday Mba and Papa Idris. Asuquo even scored a television goal on the day just before the close of training. The trend continued when both again were all over the pitch doing their thing in a special way to the admiration of the backroom staff and the few fans that watched yesterday morning's training.
Click here to read full news..
